BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH: In ancient Rome, all debts fell due on March 15th. That was also the day (in 44 BC) that Gaius Julius Caesar, having declared himself “Dictator for life” was, at 1PM, fatally stabbed 23 times by members of the Roman Senate led by Marcus Junius Brutus, his erstwhile protege and son of his mistress. Another lover, Cleopatra of Egypt, was visiting Rome when Caesar was murdered; the lovechild from this relationship, Ptolemy Caesar, was the last Pharaoh of Egypt.The sting of betrayal by Brutus is immortalized in Caesar’s words: Et tu Brute?The night before, Caesar’s wife had had nightmares of her holding her husband’s lifeless body. In the morning, she begged him to stay home. So did a soothsayer he met on his way to meet the conniving, bloodthirsty senators. Today, many superstitious dictators well-read in history will not be taking chances out on the streets. They will be staying home.Caesar, considered to be one of the greatest military commanders and strategists in history, conquered vast territory for Rome. In a short 400 years already, Rome had expanded from a city of 3 square miles to an empire of 720,000 (under Caesar) to over one million square miles, stretching from Africa to Asia, to Europe. I have visited some of these historical sites and several thousand years later, the structures are still grandeur – imposing and magnificent. Their pozzolana roads put to great shame our patched, often-potholed roads.The assassination of Caesar, whose successful “election” to the consulship of Rome was only made possible by bribery and intimidation effectively marked the end of the Republic and ushered in the Roman Empire 20 short years later under his grand nephew, Caesar Augustus.In a desperate attempt to save the Republic by ambushing the power-thirsty Gaius Caesar on the steps of the senate, the 66 legislators created a much bigger problem: the Empire became a living hell for the common man and the balance of power shifted from representative democracy to centralized imperial authority, with the emperor holding absolute sway.A most vital lesson in history for our time.From Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya, Hosni Mubarak’s Egypt to Uncle Bob’s Zimbabwe, we are quickly learning that a change of guard is not the ultimate solution.Africa, the half has never been told. Beware the Ides of March.